


She'll be all right

by greyone01



Series: 25 Days of Damerey 2018 [23]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Child Abandonment, DameRey, Established Relationship, F/M, JediPilot, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey's parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-07 01:13:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17950784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyone01/pseuds/greyone01
Summary: To move forward or to go back? Rey finally finds closure.





	She'll be all right

**Author's Note:**

> Day 23 of 25 Days of Damerey

“You want me to what?” Commander Poe Dameron exclaimed upon learning what Chewbacca wanted him to do. Chewie made a stern growl, reminding the pilot again that it wasn’t wise to argue with a Wookie. “Okay, okay, I’ll go find her,” Poe conceded. “I’ll just go get my droid and we’ll be on our way.”

Chewie made another stern growl, telling Poe to go now, and not bother with BB-8, who was somewhere in the Falcon with R2D2. The Wookie assured him he would tell the BB-8 where Poe had gone, and make sure that both astromechs do not get into any sort of trouble.

With that, Poe set off to look for Rey. She and Chewie had gone off earlier to look for parts for the Falcon’s latest malfunction, leaving Poe and the droids to look after the ship. Unfortunately, according to Chewie, this planet was not very welcoming to his kind, and after a few unsuccessful barters, Rey decided she’ll have better luck on her own. Chewie attempted to follow her from a distance, but he simply was attracting too much unwanted attention, so he decided to go back and send Poe instead. Poe was a bit confused about the Wookie’s specific directions to where Rey was and his vague explanation of why Poe needed to get there as soon as possible. 

With every step he took as he followed Chewie’s directions, worry began to nag him. He should have gone with her in the first place, or he should have also asked BB-8 to go with them. Maybe he shouldn’t have been making decisions while his pants were still painfully too tight after a heavy make out session with the woman who could be in trouble now. He could have insisted he was fine, he could have ignored the discomfort. Maybe, should have, could have. 

Chewie’s directions took him to the edge of town, and he was starting to think he may have heard him wrong, because why in the kriffing galaxy will they venture this far out, but then he saw her. She had her back to him, and she seemed to be standing in front of what looked like a ground marker, an expanse of rolling green meadow stretched out before her. As he got closer, he could see how she was hugging herself, head bowed and shoulders shaking. His steps quickened, she was definitely not all right. It suddenly made sense why Chewie wanted him there ASAP. 

He cleared his throat loudly when he got to within a few feet from her. She didn’t turn around, but spoke up in a voice barely loud enough for him to hear. “I told Chewie I’ll be all right.”

He continued to walk towards her until he was close enough to touch her. “Chewie’s just worried,” he finally said. He tentatively reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder.

She didn’t flinch, instead leaned back ever so slightly to his touch. He moved closer and hugged her from behind, his arms going over hers, which she kept tight around her middle. He covered her hands with his, gently coaxing her into his embrace. Poe could feel her relaxing against him, and he gave her a quick kiss to the side of the head. “What’s the matter, Rey?”

“They might be buried here,” she said quietly. “There was a man in town – a slave, I think, he had one of those collars that stabs the wearer if he tries to escape – recognized the way I dress and mentioned casually how they had this big ship from Jakku crash here about twenty years ago.”

Poe said nothing, but he understood what she was saying. He knew one of her earliest memories was watching her parents board a ship while she pleaded them not to leave her. 

“I know it sounds crazy, I don’t even know for sure if this was their ship, there could’ve been a hundred ships that left Jakku twenty years ago, but I can’t help but think what if it was? What if this was the reason why they never came back?”

Poe let her question hang in the air for a few moments before attempting to say anything. “You know there’s a good chance you may never know for sure what happened,” he started, carefully choosing his words. “They may have been on that ship, or they may still be out there. It doesn’t change the fact that they hadn’t gone back, whether that’s because they couldn’t or they chose not to. Yet somehow you’ve risen above that, you’ve made a life for yourself, and you didn’t let that destroy you.”

Rey didn’t say anything, but she pulled his arms tighter around her. He let her lean against him, giving her as much time as she needed. “I need to move on from that, Poe,” she finally said. “I need to stop feeling guilty for not going back to wait some more. I’m so tired of waiting and of being alone.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re here,” Poe gently pointed out. “This may be the closure you needed, and it can be if you choose it to be. But if you want to research more about this ship, I can help you with that, and I’m sure we could get BB-8 or Threepio to get us more information. When we get back on base, we’ll have access to more records and…”

“No,” Rey interrupted, shaking her head. “You’re right, I needed closure. I need to move on. Knowing they died here or they’re still alive somewhere in the galaxy doesn’t really change anything now. If they’re dead, they’re not coming back. If they are still living, then it’s either they’ve chosen not to go back or they couldn’t come back. I want to stop struggling to choose between going forward or going back. I want to stop feeling bad about choosing to walk away. Because that’s what I want to do. I’ve finally found people who care about me, who are with me, and I choose that over people who may never come back.”

“No one’s going to think any less of you for choosing that,” Poe said firmly. “And I think, dead or alive, if they really care about you, they’d want you to choose that anyway.”

They stood in silence for a few more moments. Then Rey stepped out of his embrace, and approached the marker. She kissed the tip of her fingers then touched them to the marker for a few seconds, before finally straightening up and walking back to him. Beyond her steely resolve, he saw the slimmest sliver of brokenness, making him reach out to her. She collapsed in his arms, her walls crumbling. Wordlessly he held her, letting her cling to him as tightly as she wanted to. 

Eventually her sobs subsided. When she raised her tear-stained face from his shoulder, he raised his hand to wipe away the tears as gently as he could. Not pulling away, she looked at him somberly. “I’ve never told anyone about this, but after Crait, I was going to go back to Jakku once you all have found a place to settle on. I failed Luke Skywalker, I failed to bring Ben Solo back to the light. I had a Force bond with Supreme Leader of the First Order, which made me a liability to the Resistance. I didn’t see any reason for me to stay, so I was going to go back to Jakku and continue waiting for them.”

“But you stayed.”

“I stayed,” she nodded. “Leia took forever to decide where to settle, by the time we did, I have found a belonging. It was like she knew what I was planning, and she knew what would happen if I just stayed a little bit longer. I realized I actually had a purpose with the Resistance, and how it actually felt to be a part of something.”

She gave him a small smile. “And then YOU happened. You made me feel like I matter. You made me feel like I always have a place with you. For the first time, I felt how it was to be cared for. How it was to be loved.” She gave him a peck on the cheek.

“I think a small part of me will always want to go back, but the rest of me, the bigger part of me – I don’t ever want to give up what I have now, Poe,” Rey confessed. “I don’t ever want to give you up.”

Poe wanted to tell her that it was all he ever wanted – for her to feel loved. That he was honored and grateful for her to let him love her. He knew he’d never find the words to express all of this, so with as much tenderness as he could, he captured her lips in a kiss that he hoped would get the message across. They were both breathless after the kiss, gazing in each other’s eyes as if no one and nothing else mattered.

Eventually, she slipped her hand in his and started leading him away, back to where the Falcon was waiting with Chewie and the droids. She glanced shyly at Poe. “So I guess this means you’ll have to deal with me being around.”

The pilot chuckled and pulled her closer to his side. He gave her a kiss on her temple as they walked away. “Feel free to stick around as long as you want. I’d rather that you stay with me forever.”

*****

“She’ll be all right,” a male slave remarked softly to his female companion, who was gripping his forearm tightly. He patted her hand reassuringly, his eyes filling with tears. When he saw how the girl kept her hair up in three buns, his heart almost stopped. He summoned all of what little confidence he had and approached her, and up close, there was no doubt in his mind that this was her. 

The woman nodded, her gaze trained to the pair as they walked away from the marker. They had been silently observing the girl as she stood alone hugging herself, until she was joined by the pilot. They witnessed how he held her and how she held onto him, not hearing their words but easily reading their actions. They watched them exchange smiles and kisses before walking away hand in hand. They watched until they disappeared in the distance.

She turned to her companion with a bittersweet smile. “I never thought we would see her again.”

He wiped away his tears. “She’ll be all right,” he repeated. “You saw the way he looked at her? He’ll make sure she’s all right, he’ll look after her.”

“Yes, she’ll be all right. Our daughter will be all right.”


End file.
